Italian White Wines Worth Tasting

7 different varieties to try for spring

Vernaccia is roughly translated as the “local grape.” Vernaccia di San Gimignano, for example, simply refers to the local grape of San Gimignano, though this has become the defacto grape that we think of when thoughts run to Vernaccia.

While some of this is due to the wine, it can’t be denied that the most famous Vernaccia happens to come from vineyards surrounding the picturesque and often visited town of San Gimignano in Tuscany.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano is one of the beneficiaries of the American tourist trade through Tuscany, with hoards of returning visitors searching out the light, refreshing white wine from that quaint town. Fortunately, and somewhat unusually, Vernaccia tends to be rather consistent and travels well. It tends to be a rather simple wine, fresh with citrus fruits and nutty accents, perfect for refreshing the palate after a long day of traipsing around Tuscany or washing down a simple antipasto platter.

Last time I dined in Italy with work colleagues, Falanghina seemed to be a pretty popular accompaniment to fish dishes (this was in eastern Emilia Romagna). Nice thing about the Campania (and Apulia) wines is that some winemakers actually allow the grapes to ripen enough to express some varietal character. Unfortunately some of them are over the hill by the time they get over here. As for Arneis, Vermentino, all the varietals from Alto Adige and Friuli, and we might as well add in Grillo from Sicily and a few others, well, they may all be unique grapes, but they all are vinified to a similar style, of light, crisp things the locals toss back during passegiata, with nary a thought ... Well, OK, they might at least comment on a bad one ...

Carricante it' s a serius grape to make wines you will find it on north side of etna vulcano, about falanghina it is located in between 3 region campania, molise and puglia maybe, but gives its best , in my opinion, near roccamonfina. In this place there is a vulcano that is not active anymore so you have a wine that is more mineral and deep....

In south east texas, Italian vermentino at a moderate price is not readily available, i.e., less than $10. I did bite the bullet and purchase a more expensive italian iteration to set a baseline. Following that experience, I located a Texas vintners who working wonders with this grape. I'll not name names but, a little search time will produce an answer.

I am far from an expert in wines. But I know what I like. Last year I was in Italy and I has some excellent wine from Castello del Trebbio. I have 2 questions: 1. Has anyone ever experienced the wines from Castello del Trebbio and if so how can purchase this product?